John m



Patented Sept. 27, I898., J. M. WEBSTER. BICYCLE FRAME.

(Application filed Aug. 25, 1897.) (No Model.)

ls PETERS c0, wo'rourna, wumuafon, 6. c.

llwrrnn STATES J OI-IN M. WVEBSTER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO MAX S. GOLDSMITH, OF SAME PLACE.

BICYCLE-FFRAIVI E.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 611,399, dated September 27, 1898.

Application filed August 25, 1897. Serial No. 649,433. (No model.) i

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN M. WEBsTEn, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Cincinnati, in the county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Bicycle-Frames, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple and effective means of coupling the tubes forming part of the frame and the bearings or angle-pieces formed by casting or drop-forgin g which couple the tubes together, whereby a much stronger and more effective joint is produced and the brazing dispensed with. This object I attain by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in connection with which the invention will be first fully described and then particularly referred to and pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the drawings, in which like parts are indicated by similar reference-let'- ters wherever they occur throughout the various views, Figure l is a View, partly in elevation and partly in section, of a bicycle-frame embodying my invention with the intermediate portions of the tubing broken away and the couplings brought together for the purpose of showing the parts of the invention upon a larger scale than would be possible if the frame were shown in full and diminished to the size required for Patent Oflice drawings. Fig. 2 is a detailed view, partly in section and partly in side elevation, of the crankshaft bearing and the tubes radiating from it upon a larger scale than shown in Fig. 1 to more clearly illustrate the coupling-joint, the left branch of the coupling showing the joint in an incomplete state and the right branch showing the tube forced to its place, folding its ends completely to form the completed lock-joint. Fig. 3 is a sectional detail View of the casting or forging before the branches and the grooves forming the lockjoint are dressed or finished to receive the prepared end of the framing-tubes.

In describing my invention it should be understood that the castings or forgings are in interior contour the same as those now in common use when they leave the mold or forge, and the tubing used is the ordinary drawn or brazed tubing commonly used in bicycle-frames. The only novelty claimed here is the self-locking joint between the castings or forgings and the ends of the tubular braces. Assuming then that the castings or forgings have the general shape of those in use, excepting the inwardly-curved bead or ribs a, A represents the branches or angles of the frame, upon which the ends of the tubular braces are locked. The necks or branches a are dressed off in the usual mannor to receive the ends of the tubular braces, as is common when the branches are to be brazed onto these necks; but in my improvement an annular. groove 0L having an overhanging flange, is formed near the shoulder of the branch and surrounding the interior rib a. The ends of the tubular branches B being forced over the branches, the ends, coming against the overhanging flange,'fold the said ends inwardly and form a self-locking joint with the annular grooves, as clearly shown in the drawings.

It will thus be seen that the frame is quickly put together by simply forcing the tubes in position, and that brazing is thus dispensed with.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The hereinbefore described bicycleframe having its coupling-pieces provided with branches formed with annular grooves at their inner portions and an overlapping flange, the tubular braces having their ends inturned by forcing them on said branches and into the annular grooves, thus forming a self-locking joint, substantially as shown and described.

2. The hereinbefore described couplingpieces for bicycle frames provided with branches formed with external annular grooves at their inner portions and having flanges overlapping the inner portions of said grooves to fold the ends of the tubes inwardly for the purpose of forming a self-locking joint, substantially as shown and described.

JOHN M. WEBSTER.

Witnesses:

GEO. J. MURRAY, EMMA LYFoRn. 

